[9fingers]

Hi, as previously mentioned I have had many bikes in my life, but all but my first two, a Honda CT70H and SL125, were trials bikes, with no chrome on them. So now I have this very pretty 2016 Classic Chrome/Maroon and it has lots of shiny chrome on it. What is the best way to keep it nice and shiny and not pitted with rust? Thanks for all the help.
9fingers

[tooseevee]

Hi, as previously mentioned I have had many bikes in my life, but all but my first two, a Honda CT70H and SL125, were trials bikes, with no chrome on them. So now I have this very pretty 2016 Classic Chrome/Maroon and it has lots of shiny chrome on it. What is the best way to keep it nice and shiny and not pitted with rust? Thanks for all the help.
9fingers

            If I had chrome fenders (which I don't thankfully) and I rode in the rain even once a year I would remove them (hopefully brand new), go buy a high quality pickup truck bed liner, follow the prep instructions to the letter and put a couple good coats on the underside of them. POR-15 might even be better, but you have to go to bare metal.

         The rust will come from under the chrome unless it's really sh-tty chrome or it gets stone-chipped.

         Then I'd just put one of the really overpriced, but excellent, chrome lotions on the chrome. Me? It would probably be Mother's.

[Richard230]

I have always waxed my chrome parts with a good paste wax.  That has worked for me for many years.

[Bmadd34]

Maguire's finishing compound to get it really shiny, a good paste wax to keep it that way.

[Blairio]

Hammerite - a couple of coats sprayed on the inside (or put on with a decent brush). If you chose silver (smooth or hammered), then it doesn't look obvious.

[Rattlebattle]

I’d use Hammerite too and would wax polish the chrome. The pedant in me wishes to point out that chrome doesn’t rust. It’s the steel underneath that rusts, breaking through the very thin chrome layer. Good chromium plating is not applied direct to steel. In the days of really good chromium plating on old British bikes it was applied on top of nickel plating. I doubt that RE does that.

[hpwaco]

Triple chrome plate = copper, nickel, chrome.

[Blairio]

Triple chrome plate = copper, nickel, chrome.

Back in the early 90's when I was restoring my 'Frannie B' I got quotes for re-chroming various parts (silencer, downpipe. handlebars, levers) from two places in Glasgow. One was ridiculously cheap - basically they do 'show chrome', chrome plating directly onto steel, ok for dry riding and shows (hence the name!). The other was well over twice the price, but did a lovely job - grinding back pitting, and then applying the copper, then the nickel and then the chrome plate. 28 years later, the finish still looks great, and the bike has been used through many a (salty) winter.

[9fingers]

Blario, that sound ideal, but these days in the USA, chrome plating is environmentally regulated, and I suspect, very expensive. So hopefully I won't need this for 10 or 15 years.

[hpwaco]

What isn't environmentally regulated these days in this nanny state?   Unless you're Chip Gaines and can afford to pay for violating lead paint regulations!